July 17, 2007

Bill O'Reilly Repudiates Papal Primacy!

"What do you think of someone who says the following: The world would be better off without him? That after Tony Snow announced his cancer had returned. The pope is a primate. Evangelicals are nut cases. Better luck next time after an assassination plot against Vice President Cheney in Afghanistan. And some attacks against coalition forces in Iraq are legitimate.

All of those thoughts were posted on a vicious far-left Web site called the DailyKos, one of the worst examples of hatred America has to offer."

The obvious thing to say about this is that you can find hateful things on the comment threads of any blog, and the people who run the blog are not normally responsible for them. I, for instance, would be kind of upset if Bill O'Reilly attributed to me all the views that had been expressed on ObWi, including, say, the view that I am just like Walter Duranty.

But what struck me was this alleged example of hatefulness: "The pope is a primate." It's not a slip-up: later, one of his reporters tracks down the head of JetBlue, which is sponsoring YearlyKos, and asks him:

"WATTERS: What about the pope is a primate? Do you agree with that kind of thinking?"

I don't know about the head of JetBlue, but I agree with that sort of thinking. And so would Bill O'Reilly, if he or one of his staffers had bothered to open a dictionary. Here are some hints:

When this website posts what it calls "PRIMATE'S MEDITATION", and includes a link where you can "e-mail the Primate", this does not mean that attempts to teach Bonobos to communicate using computers are even further along than we thought.

Likewise, the headline "Primate warns church over gay row" does not mean that Washoe has got religion.

Nor do headlines like "Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus elects new primate" imply that animal rights activists in Europe have secured the right of non-human great apes to run for office.

And "the primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church" is nothing like the ape-man of Borneo.

Let's leave aside the fact that all humans, including not just Bill O'Reilly and the Pope, but even Christ himself, are primates in the sense I assume O'Reilly and his reporter were thinking of -- "any of an order (Primates) of mammals that are characterized especially by advanced development of binocular vision, specialization of the appendages for grasping, and enlargement of the cerebral hemispheres and that include humans, apes, monkeys, and related forms (as lemurs and tarsiers)". That's the third definition in the dictionary I, unlike Bill O'Reilly, actually checked, even though, also unlike Bill OReilly, I already knew about the original meaning of 'primate', namely: "a bishop who has precedence in a province, a group of provinces, or a nation."

Guess what? One of the Pope's titles is, indeed, "Primate of Italy." And last time I checked, denying the primacy of the Pope was, for Catholics, an act of schism. ('Primacy' is, for Catholics, a technical term; it's related to 'primate' as 'presidency' is to 'President'. In this context it refers to the Pope's role as 'universal primate', not as Primate of Italy.) According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "Schism is regarded by the Church as a most serious fault, and is punished with the penalties inflicted on heresy, because heresy usually accompanies it." As a self-described "loyal Catholic", Bill O'Reilly should hope that the Vatican doesn't watch his show: if he says this a few more times, they might decide that it represents not a one-time slip, but the kind of "obstinate adhesion to a particular tenet" that, also according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "is required to make heresy formal."

Comments

To be fair, the comment at issue -- presumably this one -- is clearly alluding to the biological meaning of the word "primate." But it's just a joke about the Church's position on evolution, not some undifferentiated claim that "the Pope is a monkey" or something. (Which wouldn't really be such a bad thing to say, anyway, presuming one is permitted to criticize the Pope, a thesis O'Reilly probably doesn't accept.)

To be fair, the comment at issue -- presumably this one -- is clearly alluding to the biological meaning of the word "primate."

And also to be fair, knowing the context doesn't make O'Reilly any less comical. First of all that comment appears to be passing on a pun from Free Inquiry. Secondly, the more informed way to take offense would be, "Over at DKos they're making fun of the Pope, using his title of primate to imply he's a monkey." That reaction would still be ridiculously overwrought, but at least it makes it clear you're familiar with the term.

The wackos get their information from the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees ... Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them.

Still, I'm willing to believe Bill's implicit claim that he is not Homo sapiens, possibly not any sort of life ever found on earth before. It would improve my day just a little to find out that he was not related to bonobos, chimps, gorillas and humans.

I'm certainly willing to consider the current pope as an argument against evolution. Just this morning here in Boston, we got an hour on NPR about how Benedict wants to canonize a bunch of priests who died in the Spanish Civil War. They were victims of anti-Catholic hatred, to be sure, and individually were likely blameless. But the church in Spain, as an institution, had absolutely sowed the wind, such that these priests reaped the whirlwind; and the church enthusiastically supported Franco. This pope - as we have previously seen with his hateful statements in support of Pius XII, the Crusades, and the slaughter of Brazilian natives - cannot admit any shortcomings present or past. Remind you of any American presidents?

When I was a child in Seattle in the 80's, the Catholic church was identified with civil rights and the sanctuary movement (and even with respect for homosexuals, a stand for which the archbiship was later punished). Under its current leadership, it's identified with George Bush and with Francisco Franco, not to mention the covering up of child sexual abuse. The loss of moral authority in the last 20 years is simply staggering.

The joke among left-wing Catholics (well, one of them) is to note that "Benedict" is not "Benecond" -- it's "talks nice," not "acts nice."

That said, O'Reilly wouldn't know Catholic teaching if it bit him, last name aside. That he's unfamiliar with the term "primate" is in some ways less surprising -- or at least less important -- than that he's unfamiliar with the Catholic Church's teaching on, say, pre-emptive war, the death penalty, the right to form unions, hell, pretty much anything. Probably hasn't actually read the teachings on homosexuality either and just assumes they're "gays are going to hell!" (which they're not)

Consider that Billo escaped learning that the Pope is the Primate of the Catholic Church after having attended Marist College -- a Catholic teaching college! I guess Billo's just a little slow on the uptake.

He probably actually prides himself on his religious bona fides. What a joke!

Consider that Billo escaped learning that the Pope is the Primate of the Catholic Church after having attended Marist College -- a Catholic teaching college! I guess Billo's just a little slow on the uptake.

He probably actually prides himself on his religious bona fides. What a joke!

Consider that Billo escaped learning that the Pope is the Primate of the Catholic Church after having attended Marist College -- a Catholic teaching college! I guess Billo's just a little slow on the uptake.

He probably actually prides himself on his religious bona fides. What a joke!

Consider that Billo escaped learning that the Pope is the Primate of the Catholic Church after having attended Marist College -- a Catholic teaching college! I guess Billo's just a little slow on the uptake.

He probably actually prides himself on his religious bona fides. What a joke!